Dr. Alexander Joseph Oraham

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Alexander Joseph Oraham was born on February 7th, 1898, in the village of Armood Aghade in the Urmia district in Rezaieh, Persia, now Iran. He is the descendent of one of the oldest Christian families in Persia (Iran), Mar (bishop) Oraham (the house of bishops). The Oraham family legacy and contribution to our people and to the Church of the East (Eastern Church) has included numerous scholars, doctors, and ministers of the church, among them a continuous chain of 28 bishops and higher ecclesiastic officials. This long chain of succession which had bravely withstood centuries of strain from external forces, finally gave way in 1928, when the last link, Mar Elia, the Bishop of Urmia — whose body rests in the Crypt of St. Mary's Church in the city of Urmia — passed away due to the long term effects of World War I.

Alexander received his primary education in the village school and at the age of 13, was admitted to the St. Vincent Academy, the highest Catholic institution of learning in Iran. In 1913, at 15 years of age, he immigrated to the United States of America and settled in Chicago. In 1915, he enrolled at the Jenner Medical College in Chicago where he continued his medical studies until 1917 when an interruption became inevitable.

In 1924, Alexander entered the Physicians and Surgeons College of Microbiology, and graduated in 1925, with a degree of Doctor of Microbiology.

In 1928, he established an X-Ray Laboratory in Chicago and continued his operation under his name and direction into the mid 1940's.

In 1941, he established what was known as the greatest Syriac printing establishment in the world, known as "The Consolidated Press" (Assyrian Press of America). Alexander Oraham and his wife, Mrs. Almas Oraham, personally set the English and Aramaic (Syriac) type for the printing of his "Oraham's Dictionary" in 1943.